You voted with your ratings: These are the best vampire movies of all time. Quite high, or rather in the top 5, is “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” by master director Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather I-III”, “Apocalypse Now”). The quite bloody, but also romantic and sexy horror piece is still worth seeing more than 30 years after its first performance.
“Bram Stoker’s Dracula” will be shown today, October 21, 2023 at 10 p.m. on ZDFneo. Immediately after the broadcast, the film can be found in the ZDFmediathek, where you can stream it for free. And Netflix currently also has it in its program. Alternatively, online retailers such as Amazon have the FSK 16 title available as Blu-ray, DVD or paid video on demand. The 4K/UltraHD version is especially recommended. In addition to the significantly improved, remastered visuals, there are approximately 30 minutes of cutscenes and over two hours of interviews and background bonus material worth checking out.
In addition to Gary Oldman (“The Dark Knight”) in his first role in a major Hollywood film and superstar Keanu Reeves (“John Wick”), Coppola has hired a number of other well-known faces. Perhaps the most interesting of these comes from rock musician Tom Waits (“Down By Law”), who plays Renfield. But Winona Ryder (“Stranger Things”), Monica Bellucci (“James Bond 007 – Specter”), Richard E. Grant (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) and Sadie Frost (“Final Cut”) also deliver remarkable performances. Not to mention Anthony Hopkins (“Silence of the Lambs”).
“Bram Stoker’s Dracula” on ZDFneo: that’s the story
In 1897, London lawyer Jonathan Harker (Reeves) goes to Romania to draw up some contracts with Count Dracula (Oldman) living there for his real estate purchases in England. However, when Dracula, who turns out to be a centuries-old vampire, sees a photo of Harker’s fiancée Mina (Ryder), he spontaneously locks her in the dungeon of his castle – after all, Mina resembles Dracula’s long-faded great love Elisabeta. almost to the hair.
While his three bloodthirsty brides (Bellucci, Florina Kendrick, Michaela Bercu) want to attack Jonathan, who is still oblivious to everything happening around him, the Count suddenly disappears. A little later he appears visibly rejuvenated in London to win Mina over.
But first, Dracula approaches her friend Lucy (Frost) to recharge her batteries thanks to her red lifeblood. Local vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing (Hopkins) finds out about this and he and his team (Grant, Cary Elwes, Billy Campbell) immediately track Dracula…
“Dracula” – an erotic dream?!
Coppola made Bram Stoker’s Dracula immediately after The Godfather III. It was Winona Ryder who brought James V. Hart’s script to the director’s attention. Coppola had met with her to clear the air after her sudden withdrawal from The Godfather III led to major delays in the film’s production. In an interview, Ryder stated:
Ryder herself was attracted to the script because she thought it was a very emotional love story: said the star. According to her, Mina, like many women at the end of the 19th century, had a strongly repressed sexuality: Coppola was also enthusiastic about the sensual elements of the script. He soon decided that he would make the film and that parts of it would resemble an “erotic dream.”
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